Captain Asamoah Gyan last night insisted Ghana are heartbroken to miss out of playing in the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Black Stars lost 3-2 on penalties to Burkina Faso in the semi-finals after drawing 1-1 in 120 minutes of football at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Wednesday night.

The missed opportunity prolongs Ghana's long wait to ending their Nations Cup trophy drought, spanning over three decades.

Ghana were keen on making it to the finals but the Stallions got the better of the Black Stars during the lottery of penalties.

“We came here to win but it is rather unfortunate we lost this game. I think the better side won and we lost by penalty shoot-outs. I would say the luckiest side won,” Gyan said as he reflected on the defeat.

“We are really sad at the moment. It’s normal.

“There is a third-place coming on and definitely we would be down but we would psyche ourselves up and make sure we go for the third-place.”

The build-up to the match had centred on the playing surface at the Mbombela Stadium

But Gyan says, the pitch was no distraction and added that Ghana are not finding excuses.

“I think we cannot find excuses with the field. We’ve all played on this kind of field before in Africa.

“Before the game we saw the pitch and we didn’t think about the field. We came here to win this game and to go to the final,” he said.